Cavalier Men Fifth, Women Sixth After Day Two of ACC Championships
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April 19, 2013
RALEIGH, N.C. – The Virginia men’s and women’s track and field teams continued competition at the 2013 ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Friday. The Cavalier men are in tied for fifth place and the women are in sixth place after the second day of the three-day meet.
The multi-event competitions concluded Friday with all three Cavaliers, Christian Lavorgna and John Michael Pirtle in the men’s decathlon and Anna Finger in the women’s heptathlon scoring points for the team. Virginia also had two runners score in the men’s steeplechase and had four athletes advance to Saturday’s finals during Friday qualifying heats.
“Overall, I was pleased with today,” said head coach Bryan Fetzer. “Our young combined event athletes did a great job as all of them scored in their first-ever college decathlon or heptathlon. That was a great way to start the day. In the qualifying events, it went as planned and Peyton Chaney making the final of the 100 was a nice bonus, as she was seeded 11th and finished sixth to make the final. The ones that were supposed to move on in qualifying did, and that is a key thing in a championship meet. We also had two guys score in the steeplechase. They performed well, especially considering the odd circumstances of that race being postponed and then back on.”
The meet concludes on Saturday on the campus of NC State. The field events begin at 11:30 a.m. with the men’s pole vault. The track events begin at 4 p.m. with the 4x100m relays.
Women’s Day Two Recap
The Cavaliers are in sixth place with 26 points after the second day of the meet. They trail Florida State (59), NC State (55), North Carolina (36), Duke (36) and Clemson (29).
Virginia had an athlete advance to the final in all three events with qualifying heats on Friday. Jordan Lavender ran a PR of 53.09, the third-fastest time in school history, to win her heat in the 400m preliminaries and advance to the final. Her time was the fastest time among the qualifiers.
Vanessa Fabrizio also advanced to a final with the fastest time in qualifying, posting the best time in the 800m. Her time of 2:06.53 was just .08 shy of her PR, set earlier this year.
Peyton Chaney ran a wind-aided 11.57 in the women’s 100m to advance to the final with the sixth-fastest time in qualifying.
In the heptathlon, Anna Finger finished fifth with a score of 4,791 points, the 10th best score in school history. She moved up from eighth place to fifth on the final event, the 800m, as she ran a PR of 2:20.53.
Men’s Day Two Recap
Virginia is tied for fifth place with Miami with 23 points after the second day of the meet. They trail North Carolina (59), Florida State (57), Duke (33) and Virginia Tech (33).
The Cavaliers had two athletes score in the decathlon. Christian Lavorgna placed fourth in the event with a score of 6,491 points, the 10th best score in school history. John Michael Pirtle was seventh with a score of 5,784 points.
Virginia also had two score in the steeplechase, the final event of the day. As the inclement weather approached, the start of the event was initially postponed before the decision was made to run the race before the thunderstorms hit. Taylor Gilland finished fifth in a time of 9:04.40, while Colin Mearns was seventh in 9:07.36.
During Friday’s preliminary events, Virginia had one athlete reach Saturday’s final. In the 400m, Payton Hazzard ran an outdoor PR of 47.22, the seventh fastest time in school history, to win his preliminary heat and advance to the final.